Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The White House Surgery on 13 February 2015. Overall the practice is rated as requires improvement.
Specifically, we found the practice to require improvement for providing safe, responsive and well-led services. It also required improvement for providing services to people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable, and working age people (including those recently retired and students). It was good for providing a caring and effective service. We also found it was good for providing services to older people, people with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia),.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
- Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to recruitment checks.
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Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
- Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
- Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
- The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
- Urgent appointments were usually available on the day they were requested.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
- Ensure complaints and incidents are consistently recorded, monitored and addressed so that improvements are made to the service provided. Any improvement strategies must be shared and understood by all members of staff.
In addition the provider should:
- Ensure that all staff who act as chaperones have been trained to do so and have undergone a risk assessment to determine the need for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
- Review the protocols for repeat prescribing to ensure that non-clinical staff cannot override automated systems without prior approval from a GP.
- Carry out an annual infection control audit to identify and address any risks to patient safety.
- Improve the support of newly recruited staff, including locum staff, through the use of up-to-date induction processes and formal supervision arrangements.
- Develop a co-ordinated approach to monitoring flu vaccine uptake to identify strategies for improving performance.
- Improve the availability of appointments outside of normal working hours.
- Improve communication between staff and patients about development plans for the practice.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice